NFL Week 6 Picks: Predicting the Winner of All Matchups

Week 5 illustrated just how difficult it can be to pick games in the NFL. Nick Foles outdueled Tom Brady on Thursday night, the Raiders beat the Chiefs and Dolphins blew out the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. 

No word yet on dogs and cats living together, but it was a wild weekend of NFL action. 

"Any given Sunday" was definitely in full effect with some of the more bizarre results, and now we turn our eyes to Week 6 and another compelling slate of games. 

With the Thursday matchup between the Bills and Chiefs moved to Monday night due to the schedule shuffle caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, fans will have to wait to the weekend for their football fix.

Here's a look at the entire schedule and early predictions for who will win each game. 

Week 6 Schedule, Predictions

Sunday, Oct. 18

Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans, 1 p.m. ET

Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts, 1 p.m. ET

Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings, 1 p.m. ET

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots, 1 p.m. ET

Washington Football Team at New York Giants, 1 p.m. ET

Baltimore Ravens at Philadelphia Eagles, 1 p.m. ET

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers, 1 p.m. ET

Chicago Bears at Carolina Panthers, 1 p.m. ET

Detroit Lions at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m. ET

New York Jets at Miami Dolphins, 4:05 p.m. ET

Green Bay Packers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4:25 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers, 8:20 p.m. ET

Monday, Oct. 19

Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills, 5 p.m. ET

Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys, 8:15 p.m. ET

Picks in bold

Toughest Calls

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers

Ron Jenkins/Associated Press

In a typical season, the Browns are unofficially eliminated from everything but a top-10 draft pick. This is no typical season. 

New head coach Kevin Stefanski has them sitting at 4-1 for the first time since 1994. The nearly unprecedented success has come from an offensive renaissance in Cleveland that has Baker Mayfield commanding an offense that also leads the league in rushing. 

The Browns' rushing attack has racked up 942 yards through five games; even without Nick Chubb in the lineup, the ground game has been strong. Last week, the Colts were the first team to hold the Browns under four yards per carry, but the team still managed to score 32 points. 

The thing to watch is the health of Mayfield, though. The third-year quarterback suffered a rib injury that he plans to play through, per Jake Trotter of ESPN. 

Pittsburgh is the last team you want to face injured as a quarterback. The Steelers pass rush leads the league with 20 sacks despite playing one less game than the vast majority of other NFL teams. They will blitz early and often in an attempt to disrupt this offense. 

How Mayfield handles that early pressure is going to be important. If the Steelers can emulate the success the Colts had against the Browns' run game and get to a hobbled Mayfield with the pass rush, they should win a close one in this fierce rivalry. 

Green Bay Packers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kamil Krzaczynski/Associated Press

Whether it was 10 years ago, this week or 10 years from now, any time Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are set to play against one another it's going to be one of the top games of the week. 

Their collision course in 2020 is particularly interesting. The Buccaneers are coming off a tough one-point loss to the Bears on Thursday Night Football while the Packers are one of the league's few remaining undefeated teams as Rodgers seems bent on making the league remember he's a great quarterback. 

Brady and the Bucs just experienced their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Bears, who are now 4-1 despite ranking 22nd in DVOA. 

In that game, the Bears defense was able to keep them in the game. Brady's inability to keep track of downs on the final drive certainly didn't help either, but it didn't take away from the fact that Tampa has a dominant defense that ranks second in DVOA. 

That will be the matchup of the week to watch as the Packers have the No. 1 offense in the league by the same metric. They will roll into Tampa with a perfect 4-0 record, and no one has slowed down Rodgers and the offense thus far. 

Unlike the Bucs, the Packers defense hasn't exactly held up its end of the bargain. It has given up more than 30 points or more in two of the four games and ranks 26th in DVOA. That gives Tampa Bay the edge as it welcomes Rodgers and Co. to Florida. 

Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

The Monday night main event promises to be a fun one. 

As long as you aren't a defensive coordinator for the Cardinals or Cowboys, there will be plenty of entertainment value to close out the week. The Kyler Murray to DeAndre Hopkins connection has been strong from the outset as Hopkins leads the league in receptions and receiving yards. 

They'll have the opportunity to put up plenty more highlights against a Cowboys defense that ranks last in points allowed per game. Dallas has given up 36 points per game, including the 34 it conceded to the Giants last week. 

The key to the game is how well Andy Dalton can step in and take over the offense. Dak Prescott was lost for the season due to a serious leg injury, and the former Bengals signal-caller stepped in to lead the game-winning drive. 

He still has one of the best supporting casts in the league surrounding him. CeeDee Lamb has been as advertised in joining Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and Ezekiel Elliott. Even without Prescott, it's hard to see the offense completely bottoming out. 

Despite the early season struggles, the Cowboys are still 2-3 and sit atop the sad NFC East. A win behind Dalton on Monday Night Football would be a big morale boost in the team's quest to right the ship.